Atlantic Plain in the context of "Ria"

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⭐ Core Definition: Atlantic Plain

The Atlantic Plain is one of eight distinct physiographic divisions of the contiguous United States. Using the USGS physiographic classification system, the Atlantic Plain division comprises two provinces and six sections. The Coastal Plain province is differentiated from the Continental Shelf province simply based on the portion of the land mass above and below sea level.

The lands adjacent to the Atlantic coastline are made up of sandy beaches, marshlands, bays, and barrier islands. It is the flattest of the U.S. physiographic divisions and stretches over 2,200 miles (3,500 km) in length from Cape Cod to the Mexican border and southward an additional 1,000 miles (1,600 km) to the Yucatán Peninsula. The central and southern Atlantic Coast is characterized by barrier and drowned valley coasts. The coastal Atlantic plain features nearly continuous barriers interrupted by inlets, large embayments with drowned river valleys, and extensive wetlands and marshes. The Atlantic plain slopes gently seaward from the inland highlands in a series of terraces. This gentle slope continues far into the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, forming the continental shelf. The relief at the land-sea interface is so low that the boundary between them is often blurry and indistinct, especially along stretches of the Louisiana bayous and the Florida Everglades.

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Atlantic Plain in the context of Virginia

Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The state's capital is Richmond and its most populous city is Virginia Beach. Its most populous subdivision is Fairfax County, part of Northern Virginia, where slightly over a third of Virginia's population of more than 8.8 million live.

Eastern Virginia is part of the Atlantic Plain, and the Middle Peninsula forms the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Central Virginia lies predominantly in the Piedmont, the foothill region of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which cross the western and southwestern parts of the state. The fertile Shenandoah Valley fosters the state's most productive agricultural counties, while the economy in Northern Virginia is driven by technology companies and U.S. federal government agencies. Hampton Roads is also the site of the region's main seaport and Naval Station Norfolk, the world's largest naval base.

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Atlantic Plain in the context of Tidewater (geographic term)

Tidewater is a region in the Atlantic Plains of the United States located east of the Atlantic Seaboard fall line (the natural border where the tidewater meets with the Piedmont region) and north of the Deep South. The term "tidewater" can be applied to any region where water levels are affected by the tide. Still, culturally and historically, the Tidewater region refers most commonly to the low-lying plains of southeastern Virginia (known as the coastal plain or Tidewater Virginia), eastern Maryland, the Eastern Shore, and the Chesapeake Bay. It can also encompass Delaware, the remainder of the Delmarva Peninsula, and Northeastern North Carolina.

The cultural Tidewater region got its name from the effects of changing ocean tides on local rivers, sounds, and shorelines. The area has a centuries-old cultural heritage that sets itself apart from the adjacent inland parts of the United States, especially concerning its distinctive dialects of English, which are gradually disappearing, along with its islands and its receding shoreline.

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Atlantic Plain in the context of Piedmont (United States)

The Piedmont (/ˈpdmɒnt/ PEED-mont) is a plateau region located in the Eastern United States. It is situated between the Atlantic Plain and the Blue Ridge Mountains, stretching from New York in the north to central Alabama in the south. The Piedmont Province is a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Highlands physiographic division and consists of the Piedmont Upland, and the Piedmont Lowlands sections.

The Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line marks the Piedmont's eastern boundary with the Coastal Plain. To the west, it is mostly bounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains, the easternmost range of the Appalachians. The width of the Piedmont varies, being quite narrow above the Delaware River but nearly 300 miles (475 km) wide in North Carolina. The Piedmont's area is approximately 80,000 square miles (210,000 km).

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Atlantic Plain in the context of Schuylkill River

The Schuylkill River (/ˈsklkɪl/ SKOOL-kil, locally /ˈskkəl/ SKOO-kəl) is a river in eastern Pennsylvania. It flows for 135 miles (217 km) from Pottsville southeast to Philadelphia, the nation's sixth-largest city, where it joins the Delaware River as one of its largest tributaries.

The river's watershed of about 2,000 sq mi (5,180 km) lies entirely within the state of Pennsylvania, stretching from the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians through the Piedmont to the Atlantic Plain.

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Atlantic Plain in the context of U.S. Route 1

U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs 2,370 miles (3,810 km) from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making it the longest north–south road in the United States. US 1 is generally paralleled by Interstate 95 (I-95), though US 1 is significantly farther west and inland between Jacksonville, Florida, and Petersburg, Virginia, while I-95 is closer to the coastline. In contrast, US 1 in Maine is much closer to the coast than I-95, which runs farther inland than US 1. The route connects most of the major cities of the East Coast from the Southeastern United States to New England, including Miami, Jacksonville, Augusta, Columbia, Raleigh, Richmond, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, Newark, New York City, New Haven, Providence, Boston, and Portland.

While US 1 is generally the easternmost of the main north–south U.S. Routes, parts of several others occupy corridors closer to the ocean. When the road system was laid out in the 1920s, US 1 was mostly assigned to the existing Atlantic Highway, which followed the Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line between the Piedmont and the Atlantic Plain north of Augusta, Georgia. At the time, the highways farther east were of lower quality and did not serve the major population centers. From Henderson, North Carolina, to Petersburg, Virginia, it is paralleled by I-85. Construction of the Interstate Highway System gradually changed the use and character of US 1, and I-95 became the major north–south East Coast highway by the late 1960s.

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Atlantic Plain in the context of Interstate 40

Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway in the southeastern and southwestern portions of the United States. At a length of 2,556.61 miles (4,114.46 km), it is the third-longest Interstate Highway in the country, after I-90 and I-80. From west to east, it passes through California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Its western terminus is at I-15 in Barstow, California, while its eastern terminus is at a concurrency with U.S. Route 117 (US 117) and North Carolina Highway 132 (NC 132) in Wilmington, North Carolina. Major cities served by the Interstate include Flagstaff, Arizona; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Amarillo, Texas; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Fort Smith and Little Rock in Arkansas; Memphis, Nashville, and Knoxville in Tennessee; and Asheville, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Durham, Raleigh, and Wilmington in North Carolina.

I-40 begins in the Mojave Desert in California, and then proceeds through the Colorado Plateau in Arizona and the southern tip of the Rocky Mountains in New Mexico. It then traverses the Great Plains through the Texas Panhandle and Oklahoma, and passes south of the Ozarks in Arkansas. The freeway crosses the Appalachian Mountains in Tennessee and North Carolina, before terminating in the Atlantic Coastal Plain near the Atlantic Ocean.

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Atlantic Plain in the context of Tidewater (region)

Tidewater is a region in the Atlantic Plains of the United States located east of the Atlantic Seaboard fall line (the natural border where the tidewater meets with the Piedmont region) and north of the Deep South. The term "tidewater" can be applied to any region where water levels are affected by the tide. Still, culturally and historically, the Tidewater region refers most commonly to the low-lying plains of southeastern Virginia (known as the coastal plain or Tidewater Virginia), eastern Maryland, the Eastern Shore, and the Chesapeake Bay. It can also encompass Delaware, the remainder of the Delmarva Peninsula, and northeastern North Carolina.

The cultural Tidewater region got its name from the effects of changing ocean tides on local rivers, sounds, and shorelines. The area has a centuries-old cultural heritage that sets itself apart from the adjacent inland parts of the United States, especially concerning its distinctive dialects of English, which are gradually disappearing, along with its islands and its receding shoreline.

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